Bus Leagues Express: August 22

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Hamilton sets record: With a doubleheader last night, it seemed inevitable that Billy Hamilton would at some point break Vince Coleman’s minor league stolen base record. He did not take long to make it happen. He led off the game with a walk, advanced to second on a pickoff play with an error and stole third to reach 144 steals on the year. Just two innings later, he ensured he would go down in history. He singled with two outs, and while Ryan LaMarre was batting, Hamilton stole second to tie Coleman and then third to get the record. After being congratulated by manager Jim Riggleman, the grounds crew came out to replace the bag so Hamilton could have the record setter himself. Later in the game, he added another steal to begin extending his new record. Hamilton now leads the Cal League and Southern League in steals.

Skaggs called up: With a doubleheader today, the Diamondbacks needed a second starter. Trevor Bauer and Tyler Skaggs are both rested enough to make the start, but this time the Diamondbacks summoned Skaggs. They received the lefty two years ago when they traded Dan Haren to Anaheim, and an uptick in fastball velocity has allowed his career to take off. Since a July promotion to AAA Reno, Skaggs has a 2.91 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 52.2 innings with 45 strikeouts. It’ll probably only be a spot start, but it appears that he’s near-ready to be up on a permanent basis, and he could soon be a big addition to Arizona.

Home run sinks Miller again: Although he’s been much better as of late, the home run ball has plagued Shelby Miller all season. It hurt him again Tuesday afternoon in Memphis’ 2-0 loss to Iowa. Even though he struck out a season high 12 batters, the difference in the game was Jeff Frazier‘s two run homer in the 7th inning thanks to Seth McClung‘s seven scoreless innings. Over his last seven starts, Miller has an absurd 50:1 K:BB ratio with a 3.59 ERA and .96 WHIP. His season numbers are still pretty poor, but with his change in mechanics, his stuff has returned, and the results are improving.

Taillon strong in Altoona debut: Like he did at the start of the season with Bradenton, Jameson Taillon appears poised to get off to a fast start with Altoona. In his AA debut Tuesday, Taillon needed just 67 pitches to get through five scoreless innings, striking out six and only allowing four hits. The former #2 overall pick threw 69% of his pitches for strikes, and he probably could’ve gone a lot longer if his innings didn’t have to be monitored so closely. Shutting out Trenton is no easy feat; they make a strong case for the best offense in the Eastern League, and their 150 home runs is a franchise record. With Taillon and Gerrit Cole now in the upper minors, Pittsburgh fans see brighter days ahead.

Gallo homers again in Spokane loss: After going a combined 0/7 in his first two Northwest League games, Joey Gallo began hitting the way he did in the Arizona League. He now has seven hits in his last four games, and that includes three home runs and eight RBI. His 2nd inning solo home run got the scoring started for Spokane, but they couldn’t keep up with a Tri-City offense that continued tacking on runs in their 8-6 win. While his power remains impressive, Gallo has struck out at least twice in each game with the Indians.

Braves, rain snap GCL Pirates streak: A 10 game winning streak can be absolutely huge in short-season ball, and that propelled the GCL Pirates from a traffic jam in the middle of the GCL North standings to the top. Tuesday, they dropped a rain-shortened game in Orlando 6-2 to the GCL Braves, knocking them out of a tie for first. The GCL Tigers shut out the GCL Blue Jays, so they now have a one game lead on the Pirates in the last week of regular season play. Fortunately for the Pirates, they still have a two game lead in the wild card race.

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